The present invention relates generally to a garment protective system and more particularly to a jacket including a protective member and an adjustable member.
It is known to provide motorcycle jackets with protective body armor. Exemplary motorcycle jackets are shown in: U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0040832 entitled “Ventilated Garment” invented by Bay and published on Feb. 21, 2008; U.S. Pat. No. 7,284,282 entitled “Hybrid Ventilated Garment” which issued to Bay on Oct. 23, 2007; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,510 entitled “Ventilating Garment” which issued to Bay et al. on Jul. 24, 2001; all of which are incorporated by reference herein. While these ventilated garments are significant improvements in the industry, additional opportunities to improve user comfort and protection exists.
In accordance with the present invention, a garment protective system includes a protective member and an adjustable member. In another aspect of the present invention, body armor inside a jacket is repositionable due to adjustment of a coupled adjustment strap. A further aspect of the present invention provides a waist belt adjustably coupled to a shoulder area and/or a back area of a jacket. A method of manufacturing a garment is also provided.
The garment of the present invention is advantageous over prior devices in that the present invention garment allows for adjustable repositioning of the body armor and/or protective pads within a jacket. This system advantageously improves wearer comfort and improves protective placement of the armor over the desired, targeted areas of the user. Since the wearers' sizes vary even within a given jacket size, such adjustability of the body armor is advantageous. Furthermore, user positioning on a racing-type motorcycle versus a cruiser-type motorcycle, for example, will often necessitate different body armor positioning within a jacket to maximize comfort and protection. Moreover, user preferences also vary. The adjustable strap system of the present application secures a predetermined armor pad position set by the user while also snugging the protective armor pads to the user's body. This is contrasted to traditional garments which only secure pads to the jacket but not the user, resulting in a loose fitting jacket and, thus, loose fitting armor. It is further advantageous to interchange removable armor within the system. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.